Cooking appliances, such as e.g., cooktops or ranges (also known as hobs or stoves), generally include one or more heating elements for heating or cooking food items within a cooking utensil placed on the heating element. The heating elements utilize one or more heating sources to output heat, which is transferred to the cooking utensil and to any food item or items within the cooking utensil.
Certain cooktop appliances include temperature sensors for sensing the surface temperature of cooking utensils placed on one of the heating elements. Excessive surface temperatures of cooking utensils may cause the food items or cooking utensil to overheat or otherwise cause unwanted and/or unsafe conditions on the cooktop. Thus, in some instances, it may be desirable to limit the surface temperature of cooking utensils placed on heating elements of the cooktop. Temperature sensors can sense the surface temperature of the cooking utensil and relay the sensed temperature to a controller such that the temperature can be adjusted if necessary.
Certain conventional cooktop appliances include spring-loaded temperature sensors configured to contact the underside of a cooking utensil placed on a heating element of the cooktop appliance. Placing the spring-loaded temperature sensor below the cooking utensil presents certain challenges. For example, in some instances, light weight cooking utensils (e.g., aluminum pots and pans) are not heavy enough to force the spring-loaded temperature sensor downward due to the high spring rate of the spring of the spring-loaded temperature sensor. As such, the spring-loaded temperature sensor acts as a high point and prevents the cooking utensil from sitting properly on the heating element. As a result, the cooking utensil becomes tilted. As another example, some conventional spring-loaded temperature sensors have vertically oriented profiles that can take up a considerable amount of vertical space below the heating element. While these designs are able to offer spring-loaded temperature sensors with lower spring constants, the vertical orientation of such designs constrains the design of the cooktop appliance and requires valuable space. Moreover, some conventional spring-loaded temperatures sensors include springs that are difficult to connect with or attach to one or more components of the cooktop appliance. For example, coil springs can be difficult to weld to components of the cooktop appliance as they have spiral shapes and minimal surface area available for welding.
Accordingly, a spring bracket with a temperature sensor mounted thereto for a heating element of a cooktop appliance that solves one or more of the challenges noted above would be desirable.